Lib Dems in Parliament: June news briefing
The local elections earlier in May were an important reminder of why it is so important we get more Liberal Democrats elected, at all levels, across the country.
The Liberal Democrats did an outstanding job of electing hundreds of councillors who will make a massive difference to their local communities, including here in Westhoughton.
We now move ever closer to the next General Election where we will hopefully elect many more Liberal Democrat MPs too.
Here is just some of what our current MPs and Peers have been doing in Parliament over this last month, showing what a difference we make in Westminster.
Carer’s Leave Act 2023 becomes law
We are proud to confirm that Wendy Chamberlain’s (MP for North East Fife) Carer’s Leave Bill has completed its final stages in the Houses of Parliament, receiving Royal Assent, and becoming an Act of Parliament this week.
This legislation will provide family carers who are also in work a new statutory right to up to a week’s extra leave to help them balance their caring responsibilities with their work. It is a great first step towards better rights for carers, but there is still a lot more to be done and we will continue to campaign on this.
Keeping you safe at home
Ed Davey (MP for Kingston and Surbiton, and Party leader) has put forward a Bill as part of our new Burglary Response Guarantee policy.
We are calling for a new minimum standard which would require the police to attend every domestic property that has been broken into - something that is currently severely lacking.
In 2022, nearly 75% of burglaries went unsolved. That’s nearly 90,000 burglaries where the police didn’t even identify a suspect, let alone charge anyone. Not to mention that an officer didn’t even attend the scene in more than 45,000 cases.
Our legislation would put a stop to that.
Calling out gerrymandering over Voter ID
Speaking at a conference for Conservatives in London, Jacob Rees-Mogg MP suggested that the Voter ID regulations that were introduced at this year’s local elections were brought in to manipulate the results in the Conservative’s favour.
Helen Morgan (MP for North Shropshire) called for an official investigation into these claims by the former cabinet minister, to expose the real reason Conservative Ministers pushed ahead with this reform and refused our calls to put a stop to them.
Before the Local Elections, Helen wrote to Conservative Party Chairman, Greg Hands MP, following news that Conservative campaign leaflets had been printed saying that voters did not need ID to vote, asking for an explanation and again calling for an investigation.
Raising national security concerns over ‘spy ship’
Jamie Stone (MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) and Alistair Carmichael (MP for Orkney and Shetland) secured a meeting with the Defence Minister after Jamie raised concerns in the House of Commons about the threat of Russian ships which have been cruising in the North Sea.
With heightened concerns following the Nord Stream explosion last year, it is important that any potential threat to our energy infrastructure is taken seriously.
Apology over dumped sewage
Water companies apologised for their appalling track record of dumping sewage and launched a programme to clean up their act. Given the scale of the problem, it’s just not good enough.
Only some of the executives have pledged to give up their bonuses - while working families are likely going to see an increase in their water bills.
And we’re all waiting for the apologies from the other people to blame… the Environment Secretary and the Conservative MPs who have allowed this to happen.
We will continue our campaigning to put right this unjust and environmental scandal.
